Hi Eric,
Looks like you have cleaned it up pretty nice! So were you serious about needing to watch the movie for reference or did the kit come with any kind of painting instructions?
Ken
Hello all. It’s been stressful with all the time at work and the computer conversion, my 3 day weekend cut short, and the what goes with Memorial Day and all that. Now this week I feel like I’m the new guy at work as I am having to relearn my job all over again. I went from the person who probably had the most knowledge with the operating systems to the rookie. They brought in this person from another branch to train me and after about 5 hours of that, I seriously felt like my brain was literally going to melt down.
Not a whole lot of time at the bench, but it does feel good to relax there and get a few things done.
I added a few of the PE parts to the front gear bay and painted with that dreaded gloss white paint. The PE parts are the front wall and the detail seen on the right side of the bay.
There are a couple of other parts to add later as they are part of the doors.
I also finished painting the framework on the canopy and also re-masked it. No picture as there wasn’t a whole lot to see for now. I should of taken a quick one before re adding the Parafilm, but oh well… There are also a couple of kit parts and PE parts to add later here as well.
Don’t know if this will show up or not. I added a tiny drop of clear green to the center of the HUD framework to simulate a lens there. Hard to see against all the black.
I didn’t want to pull it up from the masking tape until I’m absolutely ready to use it.
Hi Jim,
Very sorry to hear about the stress you are going through at work. I hope it gets better for you soon.
I was a little surprised to see that you had already applied wash to your white paint. Since I had to apply so many coats and it has been raining here, I want to wait a few extra days to make sure the enamel is completely hardened before I apply the wash on mine. But it obviously turned out great on yours so it shows you know what you are doing!
I can see the green in that picture of the HUD. Great steady hands Jim! [Y] [Y]
Ken
Ken,
No, I was joking [:P] Although, if I watch any of those movies one more time, my wife will go nuts!!
I know how I want to paint it. People have painted them 2 different ways. You see them painted either light grey or more of a blue-grey. The difference was actually in the making off the films. The grey painted ones, used in the first 2 movies, were done that way because George Lucas was using a “Green Screen” behind the props, for the battle scenes. Later on they change and needed to use a darker color.
Mine will be the light grey version.
Dom: Sorry, guess I misunderstood you. Yeah, earlier in the war a Japanese admiral would have pushed though with the plan and not been quite so indecisive. As I said I’m not complaining since my uncle, a bunch of other sailors, and marines would have been dead or captured had they not turned back…
Good to see the F-15 pilot is recovering, hope they don’t take the price of his fighter out of his paycheck!
Eric: That is cool! I didn’t know about this being the reason the models were painted different in the last movie, I figured it was just different lighting they were using- interesting. I guess you’d have to go with the light grey though since the ‘Vader special’ TIE only popped up in ‘Star Wars’.
Jim: Hope things calm down soon, only thing is seems when you change something you end up with all sorts of teething problems till the bugs get worked out. Please hang in there. The white landing gear bays look flawless and the green lens in the HUD looks great- funny I’ve never thought to add one.
Cliff;
No sorries necessary bud, it’s a darn great thing your uncle and those brave men survived.
Dom
AIrbrushed the initial coat, on the cockpit area. Will do a secondary lighter coat, when this is dry.
Looking good so far Jim!
Eric nice to see something out of the ordinary here. That model reminds me of playing “Rogue Squadron” on the gamecube. Vader’s TIE was available after reaching some goal I’ve long forgotten but boy was it cool!
And to Jim I must say I can see the HUD just fine and it looks great with the green. Also as misery loves company…I hate painting anything white; the wheel wells look fantastic!
Here is the completed cockpit. As you saw, in my previous post, there’s really nothing too it. Just 4 sides and they don’t completely enclose. You won’t notice it, once it’s all closed up (hopefully)
I painted it all grey and am trying to mimic, the red lights. In all photos I’ve seen, there is no other colored lights inside the Tie Fighters.
Pretty cool there Eric, I assume you’ll paint the insides of the wings flat black so you can’t really see the lack of walls there?
Funny but to me Vader looks like he’s sitting on the can, he just needs a copy of FSM to read while he’s taking care of business!
Nice job Eric, that is looking real good! [Y] [Y] And thank you for the background about your build! I found that very interesting! You are staying true to one of my (and I think everyone else on this group build) idea of doing great research on your project!
Ken
Cliff, I just about fell out of my chair laughing! [:D] You can come up with some good ones!
Ken
Cliff / Ken
I thought the same thing when I saw him in the picture. That’s pretty funny!
I suppose even super-villains need to “take care of business”, but how would he get in and out that armor? I suppose he could use the Force to sort of…er… [*-)] Oh never mind!
Yes. I did a test fit and you can tell the lack of walls, so I did wind up painting them last night.
The 2 hull sections go together ok. Right in the front, there will be a problem though. I will either have to putty or fill in with some styrene. 2 rather large gaps to deal with. [^o)]
I always figured he had a ‘poopy hatch’ under his cape somewhere!
‘BA-WHOOSH’ - ‘The Force was strong with that one…’
All joking aside nice work Eric, love seeing people take these older kits and bringing them up to speed.
Not that much going on here, I sprayed the bottom the Apache with some Tamiya primer to find any seams and got runs and drips all it. Guess I’ll have to take some thinner and try to scrub them off, don’t want to sand and erase a bunch of detail. Sign, why can’t anything ever be simple???
On to the two hull sections being glued…
I have decided to get the back sections together and dry, before tackling the front. You can see that I have a lot of fixing to do, to get it all squared away. I made sure that the panel lines are lined up. If not, I will go back and rescribe them.
By the way, if you don’t own these Quick Grip clamps, I suggest getting them. They are awesome and come in very handy. I could use two more. You can also see, how I had to paint the inside, of the hull, that the cockpit walls did not cover.:
Here is a close up, of one of the problems, I am dealing with:
Test fit of the front & top glass frames…looks pretty good. I’m really excited to get it finished.
Wow Eric, you are doing a great job with that kit! [Y] [Y] It is really giving you a challenge! I can’t believe how bad the fit is on that! I hope the glue holds after you release the clamps!
Ken